This invention relates to wrenches.
In situations where nuts are close to one another or to other elements of a machine, high-torque can be applied by the use of a socket wrench. A typical socket wrench can apply large torque even though the socket has thin walls, because of the fact that there is no gap in the socket to weaken it. Where pipes extend through the nut, a closed socket cannot be installed or removed, and therefore an open-end wrench must be utilized. However, open-end wrenches must have thick walls in order to apply large torques, since the gap in the wrench weakens it, and the thick walls make tightening of closely-spaced nuts difficult. A wrench which had the advantage of socket wrenches of permitting large torques to be applied with thin-walled sockets, and which also had the advantage of open-end wrenches of permitting use on nuts through which pipes or the like extend, would find use in certain limited-access applications.